Rayan POV
I tried to open my eyes and I could hear a voice talking to me, listening to the people in the room as I tried to remember what had happened. Forcing my eyes open, Josie hovered above me. She seemed frantic when it all came back to me. What Beryl had done and my arm burned, I blink slowly. My entire body felt heavy, and I could hear crying, making my eyes look down when I felt movement on my chest. I tried to move my arm, but Josie held it in the air.
“You bloody bitch he could have bled to death,” Josie snarls.
“Shame he didn’t would save me having to deal with this mate bond drama,” Beryl says somewhere around me. My hand moves, and I try to feel for my brother. Josie grips my other hand, placing it on my chest, and I feel Ryden wiggle under my hand and let out a shaky breath.
“He is right there; he is safe,” Josie whispers, and I turn my head. My vision blurred when suddenly the door opened.
“Finally, what took you so long?” Beryl snaps. A girl younger than me with her hair in pigtails walks in holding a man’s hand. She looks around the room before looking up at the man.
“Daddy, why are we here? You said I could see mummy,” She says.
“Not now, Emily, soon we have things to do first, go sit over there,” he says, pointing to a crate off to the side, he leads the girl over to the crate and as he steps closer, I get a better look at him and realize it is Alpha Jamie. The girl must be his daughter, the one Beryl was talking about.
“No, bring her here, hurry, hurry,” Beryl says while waving the girl forward. Alpha Jamie waves the girl to come to him, and she glances at her father before hesitating.
“Emily now,” He snaps at her making her feet move faster. She chews on her thumb a rabbit teddy bear tucked under her arm. Beryl moves toward her, and she takes a step back, only for her father to grip her shoulders.
“Give me your hand, child,” Beryl says, reaching for her hand, but she clutches it to her chest. Beryl sneers at the girl before grabbing her toy rabbit and tossing it toward where I lay.
“You won’t be needing that,” She snaps, reaching for the girl’s hand, her dagger clutched in her other. She starts to struggle, and her father grips her elbow.
“Daddy, no,” She screams, and I look away, unable to watch, but her scream and crying tells me all I need to know. Looking up, Josie was also looking away, her face pale.
“It’s just a scratch, quit your crying,” Alpha Jamie snaps at his daughter, and I bite back a growl that threatens to tear out me, my arm suddenly healing, and Josie gasps before letting my arm go. I clutch my brother shocked at my ability to heal. I had no wolf; it shouldn’t be possible yet.
Sitting up, Josie helps me, and I clutch my brother to my chest, leaning against the wall. I felt woozy, and my vision still blurred. Turning my head, the girl was watching me, clutching her hand that was dripping blood. Her teddy is next to my leg. I reached for it, wanting her to stop crying. Meanwhile, Jamie and Beryl spoke above the cauldron, looking into its contents.
“You did good, Josie,” Alpha Jamie acknowledges before nodding to her.
“Now, bring the boy here,” he waves to her. I shake off her reaching hands, and Alpha Jamie growls.
“Willingly, Rayan or I kill your brother,” He says and his eyes dropping to Ryden in my arms. I clutch him tighter and Let Josie pull me up while one of Jamie’s men brings a chair into the room.
He places it in the center, and Alpha Jamie looks at his daughter before nodding to her.
“Emily, come,” he says, waving her forward. She hesitantly gets up, a sob escaping her. I move toward them, and Josie holds her hands out for Ryden, and I look at her.
“I won’t let them hurt him,” She whispers, and I glance at Alpha Jamie, who was glaring at his daughter. I pass Ryden to Josie before bending down and picking up the girl’s bear. I glare at Beryl as I walk to the center of the room and stop by the chair. Jamie drags his daughter as she thrashes, not wanting to come closer.
He forces her to stand in front of me, and Beryl grabs a goblet, dipping it in the cauldron before grabbing a ribbon and tugging it from her long unruly hair. She immerses the ribbon in the bubbling brew before handing it to Alpha Jamie. He pinches it between two fingers, holding it away from himself.
“That’s it?” He asks her.
“No, you idiot,” Beryl snaps at him, and he growls at her, but she ignores him before walking toward us. I held the teddy out to Emily, who snatched it with wide eyes clutching it to her chest. Tears trekked down her face and she looked no older than four or five.
Suddenly the goblet was thrust toward her, and she jumped.
“Drink,” Beryl says, and Emily shakes her head. The smell was vile.
“Drink,” Beryl repeats, and the girl sobs, so I reach over and snatch the goblet from her hand while glaring at Beryl while I gulp some down. I nearly spewed the moment it touched my tongue but held it back, not wanting to scare the girl. It burns as it runs down my throat, the liquid steaming hot.
I choke but force it to remain down. Beryl goes to snatch it from me, but I pull my hand back before blowing on it. Trying to cool the scalding liquid down before giving it to Emily. Beryl taps her foot impatiently, and when it feels tolerable, I let her take it.
She thrusts the cup toward her, and she sniffs it before screwing up her face. Josie watched from the sidelines, and Ryden started fussing in her arms, and I saw her go to the baby bag she had and started rummaging through it.
Emily drinks the liquid down and spews on the ground. Beryl slaps her up the back of the head and I growl at her. So, does Alpha Jamie.
“The rest of it, now or it won’t work,” She scolds Emily. She sobs clutching her bear tighter before emptying the goblet, and Beryl takes it off her before tossing the goblet on the ground. She holds her hand out for the ribbon, and Alpha Jamie gives it to her.
“Hands now,” Beryl snaps and I hold my hand out, and so does Emily. Beryl places my hand on top of Emily, and I rub my thumb on her hand trying to stop her from crying. I felt bad for her. I kind of knew what was going on. Emily, however, looked clueless about what her father was doing.
“When can I see mummy; you said I could see her, I can’t remember her much,”
‘After darling, soon, really soon,” Alpha Jamie says and she nods sadly, holding her bear still and looking at me. Beryl wraps the ribbons around our hands in intricate knots while chanting the ribbon, heating up and melting into my skin, and I try to jerk my hand back, and so does Emily as it burns our flesh.
I grit my teeth and Emily screams. The ribbon melted our flesh away the more she chanted in a foreign tongue when I jerked away. Falling on my butt on the floor, and so does Emily. Alpha Jamie catches her and sets her on the ground gently. I try to remove the ribbon to find it dissolved onto my skin like some weird tattoo. My skin burned and Beryl laughed while clapping her hands.
“That’s it?” Alpha Jamie asks.
“Yes, for now, next we awake his wolf, bring me that baby,” Beryl snarls, and Josie freezes, shielding Ryden away.
“No! Don’t touch him,” I snarl.
“No? Do you have any idea how to awaken a wolf, boy?” Beryl laughs. I shake my head, and Jamie looks away from her.
“Pain, or strong emotion, I bet your brother would bring your wolf out,”
“Pain, I choose pain,” I yell at her glancing at my brother in panic. Josie looks at Alpha Jamie.
“He is a baby,” Josie says, outraged. Jamie looks conflicted.
“You touch him, and my father will leave nothing of you for your daughter to bury, not even your carcass for the worms to eat, you pig,” I snarl at him.
“He won’t have a choice; you forget you are tied to my daughter now. Once you mark her, the only way for you to live is if you have your mate by your side, she is underage, and I have control over whether or not she sees you or not, I have control, and your father will either lose his other son or obey my commands and stand down as the Alpha King,” Jamie says.
“You think that will stop him? Avery will break this spell. Avery will put you down like the dog you are, or my uncles will. Leave my brother alone, or you will be planning your own funeral.” I tell Alpha Jamie.
“You may regret choosing that boy; your brother’s death would be quick, your pain will be slow,”
“I don’t care, don’t fucking touch him,” My mum would have washed my mouth out for using that word. I suddenly wished for Amanda back. She would eat him alive and enjoy his screams for mercy.
“Very well then, let’s see how long you last,” Beryl says, and Alpha Jamie whistles loudly. Two men come in and grip my arms before tying me to the chair. Wolfsbane burned my arms, and I barely had time to catch my breath when I suddenly couldn’t breathe.
My head felt like it was exploding as immense pressure filled my skull. I screamed, the sound deafening as I thrashed. My head felt on the verge of exploding, and Beryl laughed with her hand outstretched toward me. She twists her wrist, and the pain gets worse. And I screamed through the link hoping someone could hear me, praying someone would save me or at least save Ryden and Emily.